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Hi Ryanne & Jay,
First, I want to thank you for your wonderful podcast that you provide for re-sellers. I listen to your podcasts every chance I get and look forward to hearing your first hand experience and sales updates. I especially enjoy your interviews with other sellers. I learn something new from every podcast I hear.
I have been selling on ebay, full time, since 2009. I dabbled in it before then but got serious after the grand crash of 2008 when I lost two retail stores. Still having the bug for buying and re-selling, I started selling on Etsy and Ebay. Ebay sales quickly exceeded Etsy. I quickly transition over to Ebay full-time. I’ve tried Amazon and Amazon FBA but it’s just not my thing.
Fast forward to 2019….I consider myself a tri-seller. I tri (try) selling and I sell on three venues. Ebay, Poshmark and Mercari. I’ve gone from originally selling craft patterns, knick-knacks and seasonal decor to currently focusing on mostly women’s apparel, fashion/vintage/hand-crafted jewelry and some vintage and seasonal items. Long gone are the days when my bread and butter daily sales consisted of sewing and needlecraft patterns and small figurines. I weeded out 90% of my original inventory before I moved here to NE Tennessee two years ago and switched to pre-owned apparel which I buy locally. So much easier to list, pack and ship but it can be slow to sell as well.
Clothing is long tail as I’ve found and the profit is so-so. We have average/moderate brands here, rarely anything high-end (at least I haven’t found it). Your podcasts have me thinking about diving into the best of the vintage/collectible inventory that I brought with me and investing more time in getting it listed.
Sale revenue has been challenging; thus, why I sell on three venues now. Ebay brings in the most but not what I used to make when I first started Ebay, Poshmark is growing and working well (often surpassing Ebay sales for the week) and Mercari is strangely slow and inconsistent. I work all three venues every day, with rare exception. I average nearly 40 hours a week but I’m not seeing the return for my time and effort. It’s time to re-think selling predominately women’s clothing (some mens).
Ebay: 762 Active Listings
Poshmark: 509 Active Listings
Mercari: 296 ActiveLike you, we live in a rural area. Not very far from shopping but in the countryside with wildlife in the back yard and just a few neighbors on our street. Selling on the internet continues to allow me the freedom and flexibility as my husband and I transition into true retirement.
Thanks again for all you do. I’m glad to be a part of your community.
Wellspring
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Welcome to another rural American. It’s a good life out here 🙂
Just selling clothes is a tough business since there’s so much competition. You’d need to sell very sought after clothes to make a full-time living and sell a lot of clothes each week. Some sellers here are selling almost 100 pieces of clothing a week.
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@pythonesk
Moved here from Ohio. Living in the Tri-Cities area in Sullivan County. Yes, absolutely love the church rummage sales and the endless garage sales! Told my husband today that I’m “overstocked” but this is the best time of year to buy (before it gets to the thrift stores!) Vintage goods and antiques are picked over by the flea marketeers, but clothes are aplenty. -
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@pythonesk
Good is relative. I’m still learning my brands but I do manage to find good deals at church sales and garage sales. The thrift stores usually have poor quality as they cherry pick the best for their own on-line sales. Some consignment shops do the same thing (cherry pick the top brands from their consignees to sell on eBay). -
pythonesk jees, everyone from Chicago is moving to TN it seems. What’s in the water there? Is there anything noticeably different between thrifting in TN, versus Chicago that you noticed? If so what? Would you say it is more of/less of (insert item/s here) in TN? Thanks.
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@daisy I wasn’t a scavenger in Chicago unfortunately so I can’t compare. Well, when I go home to visit if it is garage sale season I’ve been known to hit up a few and we’ve done pretty well from that.
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@daisy
We moved here for a lower cost of living. No state income tax and lowered our property taxes to 1/4 of what we paid in OH. Sales tax is higher (9.5%) but some thrift stores collect zero.Not to mention, less snow, beautiful views and friendly people. Loving it here! Best thing we’ve ever done.
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We moved here because my hubby works for the Forest Service and took a transfer! I really hated it at first. I literally cried the first time I saw Elizabethton, lol. So very different from the Chicago burbs where we had been living. But I’m well used to it now. It’s very quiet out here and the scenery can’t be beat.
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@pythonesk
Almost bought a log cabin in Elizabethton. Nice area. Wanted to be close to Wautaga Lake. Alas, it was really too small anyway and we ended up a little further north.-
Funny, we built a log cabin between Elizabethton and Hampton and are only 10 minutes from the lake. That’s another reason we decided to emulate Jay and Ryanne and start up a vacation rental. The appalachian trail runs along the lake there and there are lots of hostels to serve the hikers. Building this cabin was easily the most stressful thing we’ve done.
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